Delapre
Abbey
Simon de Senlis II, the second earl of
Northampton built Delapre Abbey in 1145. The Abbey of St
Mary De-le-pre (St Mary in the Meadow), until the middle
of the 16th century, was the home to the nuns of the
Cluniac Order when it was dissolved along with all other
abbeys by Henry
VIII in 1583.
The abbey has led a rather quiet existence for most of
its life but two other important events were to happen in
the coming years. Devastated at the death of his beloved
wife in 1290, Delapre Abbey became a rest stop for Queen
Eleanors funeral cortege. Wife of King Edward
I, he took her body to be buried at Westminster
Abbey from Lincoln. At every rest stop made, he had a
cross built in memory of her. A total of 12 were
commissioned. Erected in 1291, the Eleanor Cross is one
of only three surviving crosses and stands on the London
Rd at the corner of Delapre estate.
Celia Fiennes:
Ye way out of town towards London you go by a Cross a mile off the town Call'd High-Cross, it stands just in the middle of England, its all stone 12 stepps wch runs round it, above that is the stone Carv'd ffinely and there are 4 Large Nitches about ye Middle, in Each is the statue of some queen at Length which Encompasses it wth other Carvings as garnish, and so it rises less and less to ye top like a tower or Piramidy.
There is no record of what
happened to the top of the cross or when it disappeared
but local legend believes that Cromwell's army hacked it
off during the Civil war of 1642 but this is just folk
legend. 200 years previously, on July 10, 1460, Henry VI
was taken prisoner and his queen fled to Scotland. We are
told that the flight was watched by the Archbishop of
Canterbury from the hill of the Headless Cross, which
indicates that the Eleanor Cross on the London Road
outside the abbey grounds had already had its top broken
off.
The second momentous event was when the Abbey became a
prison to Henry
VI. A huge battle in the fields between
Hardingstone and the nunnery, known as the Battle of
Northampton, saw the defeat of Henry
VI by the Yorkists and his subsequent arrest.
Delapre Abbey witnessed the Battle of Northampton which
only lasted a couple of hours. A total combined head
count from both forces amounted to over 35,000 men.
Amazingly only 300 Lancastrians were slain.
A year after the abbeys and monasteries were forced to
close, Delapre was bought by the Tate family in 1539. 200
years of Tate ownership saw the abbey converted into a
country house. The house was sold on to the Bouverie
family in 1764 and they became the last family to own it.
The last of the generations of Bouveries died in 1946
leaving no heirs. The Northampton Corporation owned it
until they surrendered the lease to the Borough council
in the hope that the abbey can be developed and
protected. Today, it is maintained by the charitable
trust Friends of Delapre Abbey. With it's 500 acres of
parkland and 8 acres of more formal gardens, it is one of
the most beautiful public gardens in Northamptonshire.
The walled garden is situated on the ancient site of the
nun's burial ground and evidence of medieaval and ancient
tombstones were discovered during its construction in the
1890's. It is thought that one tomb was of Simon de
Senlis II himself.
On a lighter note, Delapre's only permanent resident is that of a ghostly nun, known as the Blue/Grey Lady because of the colour of her habit, (the habits of Cluniac Nuns were blue). She is said to walk the Abbey in the vicinity of the old nunnery. Over the centuries, there have been many sightings of the Blue/Grey Lady, most frequent sightings are on the main staircase
In recent years, two sculptures were introduced to the
wall garden. The work of Walter Ritchie, they were gifted
to Northampton in 1977 after being displayed at an
exhibition of brickwork sculptures at the Building
Centre, London. The large brick panels depict episodes in
the adventurous life of the mythical lady, Sarah
Wellington-Gore, entitled "The Lady with Kittens" and
"The Lovers". Another statue was introduced in 1978. This
was the "Woman and the Fish", by Frank Dobson. Originally
it stood in the Memorial Gardens in the town centre since
1951where it had been totally vandalised. It was then
repaired and transferred to its current position in
Delapre's walled garden.